The invention is an apparatus, method and system for providing remote monitoring of a person""s need for assistance without necessarily monitoring physiological conditions at the person. More particularly, the invention monitors user spatial orientation, velocity and acceleration changes, and based on these changes, the invention determines if assistance may be required. The invention determines the location of the user and selectively communicates the location; orientation information obtained from the spatial orientation, velocity, and acceleration sensors; and the current alert status to a remote location.
There is an ever-growing number of people that engage in independent and/or active lifestyles but still may be susceptible to injury. Friends, family, loved ones, caretakers, caregivers, and other persons may not always be physically present to accompany or monitor the person. The friends, loved ones, caretakers, caregivers, and other persons may, however, want to be notified in case of any emergency situation involving the person susceptible to injury. One solution to this problem has been physiological monitoring. One example of physiological monitoring is the commonly owned application titled APPARATUS, METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REMOTE MONITORING OF PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS, filed on Sep. 20, 2000 and having Ser. No. 09/666,732. In physiological monitoring, a person or user is connected to one or more physiological monitoring devices to monitor vital signs or other physiological information. Physiological monitoring has had numerous problems.
Typically, a physiological monitoring device senses physiological conditions of the user and immediately transmits these conditions to another location which remotely processes the information. Problems are present in the communication link from the device on a user to the central location. Some problems are related to the amount of physiological data that is sent. In order to properly monitor the vital signs or other physiological information of the user, frequent or continuous transmissions must be made. These transmissions may consume more bandwidth and more power than is desirable.
Another related problem concerning physiological monitoring devices involves the integrity of the information received over the communication link. Particularly where there is a large amount of information being transmitted in the process, there is the opportunity for this information to be corrupted. Where physiological information is corrupted in the transmission process, the goal of monitoring for emergency events and conditions is not fulfilled.
In addition, there is a security or privacy problem associated with transmission of physiological information. Users are not particularly amenable to having their physiological information capable of being monitored by third parties. Although these problems may be addressed through some extent through error checking and encryption, attempts at solving these problems may increase the bandwidth, or otherwise increase the overall complexity and cost of the device.
Another related problem is that these continuous transmissions of physiological data require additional power requirements that may make it infeasible for a battery operated device or else may result in a device that is large or cumbersome or requires frequent battery replacement.
In addition, the remote processing of this information may take considerable time. If there is a medical emergency, this must be known as soon as possible so that there is adequate time to respond to the emergency.
A further problem is that even when the physiological conditions of a user are monitored, the location of the user needs to also be known so that medical assistance can find the user if required.
Yet, another problem with physiological monitoring is that physiological monitoring requires a complex device such as with multiple sensors attached to the users body and other inherent constraints in current designs. These constraints make physiological monitoring inconvenient, uncomfortable and undesirable for users. In addition, these extra sensors may require design complexity that increases the overall size of the device. A larger, heavier device is also inconvenient for users to wear.
Another problem with physiological monitoring involves false alerts due to inaccurate monitoring. Physiological sensors may become displaced or detached from the body area they are monitoring. This results in the transmitted physiological readings not being reflective of the actual physiological condition of the user. Those monitoring the physiological conditions may only know the physiological readings and not realize that the sensors are simply not properly attached. This may result in false alerts.
These and other problems have made remote monitoring of people cumbersome, inconvenient, or sometimes unworkable.
It is therefore a primary objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide an apparatus, method, and system which improve upon the state of the art.
It is another objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a system and method of user monitoring capable of alerting the desired response personnel.
Yet another objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a monitoring device that may be comfortably worn.
It is a further objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a means of communicating alert information to emergency or health care professionals.
It is yet another objective, feature or advantage of the present invention to provide a monitoring device that is relatively simple in operation.
It is yet another objective, feature or advantage of the present invention to provide a remote monitoring device that requires only limited bandwidth.
It is yet another objective, feature or advantage of the present invention to provide a monitoring device that does not require any sensing devices, electrodes, tools, or equipment to be placed in direct contact with the user""s skin.
It is yet another objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a monitoring device that is capable of onboard computations, monitoring, and decision making.
It is a further objective, feature, or advantage of the present device to provide an optional means of tracking the location of a person using the device, and communicate their location to medical care responders or other care providers.
It is yet another objective, feature, or advantage of the invention to optionally use the location-tracking device to provide data on the position and state, velocity, or acceleration of a person.
It is a further objective, feature, or advantage of the present device to provide an optional means of alerting nearby persons to the situation, and to attract the attention of rescue personnel upon their arrival.
It is a further objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide information for updating notification information through a web-based interface.
It is a still further objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a system that may be cheaper, more durable, and more reliable than physiological monitoring.
It is a still further objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a method, system, and apparatus for remote user monitoring with reduced likelihood of false alerts.
It is a still further objective, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide a means of transmitting information that need not be continuous and may be transmitted in a burst transfer.
These and other objectives, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification and claims.
The invention is a monitor unit that monitors a human body as a unit of mass including velocity, velocity changes, and other physical status and orientation information. The monitor unit is designed to be worn close to the body and may be worn on a person""s clothing, such as on a belt, or placed in a pocket. The monitor unit determines whether there is a need for assistance based upon movement changes. These movement changes may be changes in velocity, changes in position, or acceleration.
The monitor unit is capable of communicating the need for assistance to a communications network, capable of notifying third parties of the need for assistance. The monitoring unit may also include a geographic location device so that location information may also be transmitted to a communications network so that a third party receives location information as well. The monitoring unit may also include an optional deactivation switch so that if there is no emergency, the person wearing the device can prevent a need for assistance alert from being sent. In addition, the sensitivity of the device may be set according to the needs of a particular person.
The invention also provides for a method of determining whether there is a need for assistance based on the movement changes sensed by the device.
The invention also provides for a system that includes a communication network and central control or directly to a selected person""s telephone, pacer or other communication device. The communication network is capable of receiving transmitted signals from the monitor unit. The communication network may be a paging network, a cellular telephone network, a satellite network, a radio communications network, or other network. The communication network can then forward any need for assistance messages to a central control or directly to a selected person""s telephone, pager, or other communication device. The central control can then process this information as needed and issue notification messages to users by telephone, pager, or electronic messaging.